RFID tags and the necessary infrastructure, such as, for example, readers, can be used for labeling objects. RFID tags can include a transmitting and receiving device with which the tag, among other things, can transmit a label (e.g., identification data) to a reader and can execute other functions ordered (i.e., “called”) by the reader as soon as an RFID tag is within effective range of the reader.
The label can serve for the identification of the RFID tags and thus identification of an object associated with the tag. In the near future these RFID tags may replace the barcodes used on many consumer products to simplify the logistics processes as well as the processes in the supermarket. For example, self-operating cash registers are planned since a shopping cart's contents provided with RFID tags can be completely scanned in one step.
Privacy issues exist with RFID technology. For example, because each RFID tag should bear a unique serial number, the path of each consumer product (e.g., each individual object) can be read out unnoticed, even after leaving the supermarket. Thus, people can be tracked with the aid of these serial numbers and in addition can be scanned by anyone with regard to all the products they are carrying with them (for example, their clothing). Should these data, as is at least to be feared, be collected, stored with the aid of databases, and evaluated, the scenario of “glass people” feared by data protection personnel and privacy activists may become a reality.
Previously, the industry countered this issue with a so-called kill function, in which the RFID tags, e.g., after the customer paid for the associated items at the supermarket, were permanently deactivated. Unfortunately, the permanent deactivation of the RFID tags prevents a number of applications. In particular, applications are affected that normally come into use only after the purchase of a product, such as, for example, an intelligent washing machine that automatically determines the washing temperature and program for washing clothes based on the identity of articles of clothing put into the washing machine, which identity can be determined based on the RFID tags associated with the clothing. RFID tags that make such a kill function available are described in the EPCglobal specifications, version 1.0, of the EPCglobal community, which is accessible at www dot epcglobal dot com.